The present embodiments relate to identifying a location of a needle in ultrasound images.
During biopsy, drug delivery or other medical procedure, needles are inserted into a patient. Clinicians often use ultrasound images for guidance to avoid piercing organs not being treated, improve precision and/or improve outcome. Due to noise in the ultrasound image, it may be difficult to reliably view the needle. The visibility of the needle depends on the angle between the needle orientation and the ultrasound beam orientation. When the ultrasound beam is perpendicular to the needle orientation, the needle reflection is maximized. The needle and ultrasound probe locations are dictated by anatomy, so a perpendicular scan arrangement may not be provided, especially for deeply inserted needles.
Actively steered ultrasound beams may be used to increase visibility. Resulting scan data may be used to detect the needle. A Hough transform is used to detect possible needles, which are parameterized as lines. Assuming that only one needle exists, the most possible needle is detected as the needle. The detected needle is cropped from a steered image and is then averaged with an ultrasound image at a selected view to enhance the visibility of the needle. However, the Hough transform may be prone to noise in the ultrasound images.
Sensors, such as electromagnetic or magnetic sensors, may be connected to the needle. The sensors are used to track the position of the needle. The position may be highlighted for the clinician. However, the additional sensors increase costs, require regular calibration, and may change existing clinical workflow.